Weight Loss

Weight Loss: The Bitter Sweet Truth

In the early 1980’s the Department of Agriculture recruited a nutrition expert, Dr. Luise Light to create a new Food Guide to replace the “Basic Four Food Groups.”

She came up with the concept of the “Food Pyramid”. The USDA loved her idea and was thrilled with the simplicity of the design. But when the “pyramid” was released to the public it was entirely different then what Dr. Light had submitted. These changes had nothing to do with improving nutrition- and everything to do with improving the profit of the food industry.

Crackers, baked goods and low-nutrient processed foods were taken from the top of the pyramid and moved to the base, where they were to make the bulk of the American diet. No doubt, these changes pleased the corn, wheat and packaged food industries.

Dr. Light wrote, “The health consequences of encouraging the public to eat so much refined grain, which the body processes like sugar would lead to an epidemic of obesity and diabetes.”

Jump forward forty years and it is indeed an epidemic. 78% of Americans are over weight, 64% are obese, and 35% are morbidly obese. The average person is 25 pounds heavier today then in 1980.

Something else happened along the way about the same time as the pyramid. We lowered our fat consumption while we raised our carbohydrate consumption. We were then introduced to what I call “Frankenfoods”. “It looks like real food, but it isn’t.”

One can of soda per day will make you gain 15 pounds of fat per year. We are consuming 200-300 more calories per day. It takes 3500 calories to make one pound of fat.

We are 25 pounds heavier per person than we were 25 years ago. We are the first generation that may out live our children. Why? Heart disease, obesity, type II diabetes and cancers. 90% can be avoided with a healthy lifestyle. Typical Food intake of an average American eating what he/she thinks is good: